#litanyofthemartyrs

[melliotwrites]

hihi another ghost story question hope u don't mind... from the demos youve posted ive noticed that race is q a big theme in the show? id be really interested in hearing more about it! :)

Yes! The show explores two interracial relationships between Chinese and Polish immigrant men. Anthony (a first-generation Chinese immigrant) and Joey (a fourth-generation Polish immigrant) in 2022 and Józef, a Polish immigrant, and Hao, a Chinese immigrant in 1882. The discussions around race center around standards of masculinity, interracial relationships, and queer desire. It was inspired by queer interethnic intimacies between working class men in the North American West and also bachelor societies. Other central themes of the show are gay masculinity and transness, the desire for queer ancestors, truth vs simplicity, cultural nostalgia, etc. but these are the songs we've been working on first.

[perfecttimeseleven]

i have a maths final tomorrow that im going to fail terribly so obv i am Px11thinking to cope but... what is the science behind the accessories?? like obv it's probably something that means a lot to the wearer but how does it block the voices and how does someone find Their accessory does it just start magically blocking the voices one day 😭😭 if it passes from person to person does it still work... questions questions... sorry ive been thinking abt this for years

YES ummmm if I remember correctly, it's something that one of the ppl in the past lives has Touched before/an item with some kind of tangible connection to one of the past lives. (I don't remember exactly whose accessories Remy and co. own.) So it's mostly up to the parents to be in contact with someone like Dr. Morello and be able to 1) figure out who their child's specific head people are 2) source something that one of these past lives owned 3) Take It/Buy It/Steal It. I think they only mean a lot to the current wearer because they've probably had them since they were quite young, but I think if people don't find a suitable one they end up with an HP-like fate or worse. Or they are disposed of somehow.

Thank you for the question! And good luck on your maths final!!

[thevagabondexpress]

Someone give me permission to re-set my genderbent Mortal Instruments in some place that's not New York. Fairbanks, Edinburgh, Dubai, literally anywhere else.

tagging @tleeaves, @faithfromanewperspective, @4uru, @litanyofthemartyrs, and @chaosandtwo because you're the most likely to read it and therefore to care, and @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone because you're the most likely to have a strong opinion on locations.

[melliotwrites]

HI if qns about all works are accepted can u please share a bit about the ghost story timeline?? like w no context. make it even more complicated than it actually is

Hahah!! yes......Yes.

Upper Diagram: The yellow line up top represents the ranch house that Joey and Anthony are visiting (the same one that Józef and Hao lived in.) The past is Józef and Hao's storyline, and the present is Joey and Anthony's, and for Act I the present generally has dominion over the past (as shown through the brackets) and in Act II things get a bit more muddy (this is related to "Hao gains sentience" in the lower diagram.) Also by "Deadwood" we really mean Dead End Gulch and were real tired while making these.

Lower Diagram: The bottom blue and pink lines represent the closeness between the present day couple and the past day couple (how are they interacting, how much can they touch/control/affect the physicality of the other, etc.) At the end of Act I they intersect, and in Act II they have to tear apart from each other again. This is simultaneously caused by and causes the burning down of the house.

And just for fun...general placement of where the song demos (and a couple upcoming song demos) fit on the chart:

[melliotwrites]

hi, this is for adamandi fan week! asking this early because of the horrors (timezones + morning paper) hopefully you don't mind... is there a canonical explanation for vincent's Time Travelling ronald reagan patch?

As far as I recall, our costume designer Hahnji just thought it was funny and fun! or Vincent just really hates this random 26-year-old. - Elliot

[perfecttimeseleven]

hii i am back with another lore question horror of horrors i know but i wanted to know more about the cults + the people who oppose the cults that u mentioned? also Who exactly are the perfectionists 😭😭 ive been like staring at the google doc trying to figure it out lol but id figured id just ask you :)

Cults: Thanks for asking! This is related to the accessory ask in that one clear benefit of a cult that focuses on one line of reincarnated voices makes it super easy to pass down an accessory to the next person. The clearest and least evil purpose a cult serves is to keep people in touch and connect people. A bunch of various cults probably exist/have existed so take this how you will (and feel free to add flavoring etc.) but one way this could manifest is a group of folks with head people who spend their lives trying to be as "morally pure" as possible so that when they die they'll be reincarnated for sure. And I bet when one of them dies they all disperse and flock to various hospitals around the globe to see what baby has their soul now, yk. And then they'd give the baby something to serve as an accessory from their recently deceased friend, and try to recruit that baby and family to the organization, etc. Different cults/groups would have different terminology for what they are, probably also flavored by whatever religious and spiritual practices they are adjacent to.

Probably the way the cults define "moral purity" is what causes opposition, from both other folks with head people and from regular folks who think they're 1) dangerous or 2) makin' all of it up as an excuse to enact ultra-conservative values on impressionable young people.

Perfectionists: In the original novel, Dr. Morello was working with a separate organization dedicated towards cultivating capital-P Perfectionist powers (basically a shitty underground lab where 'high numbers' got conditioned into living without their accessories through prolonged exposure to their voices and then were gonna be used as weapons, etc. Dr. Morello was running the other group as a way to send 'high numbers' to this group.) So the terminology of Perfectionist is used to refer to this more "monstrous" state (a 'high number' who doesn't wear their accessory and has access to powers.) In the musical, I don't think Dr. Morello is doing this necessarily, because his specific vendetta emerged against HP pretty recently. But other folks might've tried to harness Perfectionist powers like this in the past.

I think the word 'Perfectionist' might also have been used by the aforementioned cult opposition by folks who don't have head people. In a more loose, derogatory use of the term, not just directed to high numbers or people who have accessed powers, but to anyone with head people.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask follow-ups etc!

[melliotwrites]

You don't have to answer this if its a spoiler LMAO but is the latest ghost story demo pre or post arson

Pre arson! :)

[thevagabondexpress]

hand of oak, hand of iron update

for those of you who don't know me well as an author (though I'm sure at least some of you do), I really hate writing chapter-to-chapter. I like to be at least two or three ahead on a project. I've been stuck at chapter-to-chapter on hand of oak, hand of iron for several weeks now and it's driving me out of my skull. hence, it's going away for a lil' bit. hopefully not for too long, but I want to try to knock most of it out of the way before I go back to publishing. it's not getting abandoned, and the hiatus shouldn't be eternal. but please, have patience. we're on our way there.

@faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @alastairstom @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon

[thevagabondexpress]

in case anyone wants to do some research . . . a reading list for "progress marches on" (aka all the things i read that influenced it)

the yellow wallpaper (charlotte perkins gilman) macbeth (shakespeare) the thing is (ellen bass) matisse, too (alicia ostriker) the south (emma lazarus) how we heard the name (alan dugan) why are your poems so dark? (linda pastan) matarose tags g-dragon on the 7 (rosebud ben-oni) rhapsody in plain yellow (marilyn chin) october (louise gluck)

tagging the usual suspects (@chaosandtwo, @tleeaves, @faithfromanewperspective, @litanyofthemartyrs, @4uru, @quantummeep). no pressure to read any of these of course but i just thought you might find it interesting to look at the titles and see if you recognize them/what you make of them

[thevagabondexpress]

last post for the day: @chaosandtwo @faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @litanyofthemartyrs @4uru

do we want hot scenes from chester and hattie?

(i have a stupid nickname i'm tempted to use)

[thevagabondexpress]

@chaosandtwo @tleeaves @4uru @litanyofthemartyrs and @faithfromanewperspective:

Canonically after Restless Devil's Rag (final book of my genderbent TLH) there are no more Blackthorns. Jackie is a rusalki and won't be having any children in that state, and Garrett (yes I transgendered my own character) definitely isn't doing that either. So. That leaves me with seven or eight big plot holes to fill. Suggestions on what I might fill it with?

(Context for this: Chaos, you've sparked a thought process in me)

[thevagabondexpress]

The sketch was rough, it was clear he'd only taken this up a scant few weeks ago, but the likeness was remarkable. I stood, just visible through the open door, head bowed, shoulders tense, hands forming awkward fists.

"Do I really stand like that?"

"Mhm."

I winced. I looked like a scared boy. In a way I supposed I was.

this episode:

Noé loses blood and falls in love. Will has an unpleasant walk in the park. CW: medical.

@faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @alastairstom @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon

[thevagabondexpress]

"It's an addiction." Noé's voice was quiet, hoarse. "Like liquor, like candy, like gambling. Power is an addiction. Wealth is an addiction. They have a lot but it's not enough. They crave more and more and more until they can be the richest man in the world and they think the occult will give that to them. Magic, demons . . . they're like los conquistadores searching Mexico for the Fountain of Youth, thinking if they flash enough coin and behead enough innocents they'll win something." "You speak Spanish?" said Tessa. "Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese. And English."

chapter 7 of hand of oak, hand of iron is out! this episode: lots of introductions, lots of questions, lots of noé being melodramatic and righteously angry . . .

@faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon

[thevagabondexpress]

@faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon and anyone else who's been following hand of oak, hand of iron:

please, tell me what you think of tilly (noé's little oc friend) and whether you'd like to see more of him/how much more you'd like to see. there's a reason for this (that is, we're in danger of them taking over the plot)

[thevagabondexpress]

the iron house has a playlist now

for those who hate youtube and haven't installed ublock yet:

arsonist's lullabye (hozier) blood of angels (brown bird) satisfaction (the rolling stones) all along the watchtower (jimi hendrix) bones (imagine dragons) if i ever get out of here [full song edited] (paul mccartney) california dreamin' [but the audio is fixed for headphone people] (the mamas and the papas) pearl cadillac (gary clark jr) the logical song (supertramp) seventh son (johnny rivers) take me to war (the crane wives) war pigs (t pain) like a movie (labrinth) eat your young (hozier) man of war (radiohead) some unholy war [down tempo] (amy winehouse) team (lorde) leave your home (sons of the west) dinner and diatribes (hozier) d minor (the haunted windchimes) i know places (taylor swift) opera in the whale (before the bulb) me and the devil (soap&skin) i'm so sorry (imagine dragons) viva la vida (scary pockets & maia sykes) black horse and a cherry tree (kt tunstall) latvian bride (piñataland) holding out for a hero (nothing but thieves)

tagging @faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon

since we got this and an abwo update today and there'll be the official hand of oak, hand of iron update tomorrow but there is no major holiday happening consider this your international occult day fanfic special (because that is a holiday that is happening)

[thevagabondexpress]

Charlotte put her face in her hands the way she did when she was trying very hard to calm down. She took several deep breaths and looked up again. "Alright," she said. "I'll go and inform Miss Gray. I have to tell her about August anyhow." She offered me a pleading look. "Promise me nobody will get killed at dinner?" I couldn't promise, but I nodded anyway.

—Ch. 6 of hand of oak, hand of iron. We're officially on track with TID canon. Tessa's here!

@faithfromanewperspective @tleeaves @ibrushmyteeth-donttellanyone @quantummeep @litanyofthemartyrs @chaoticpotatodemon poke me if you want in or out of the tag list